Field
The present invention relates to the use of a Humulus japonicus extract for preventing or treating metabolic disorders or fatty liver, and more particularly, to a functional health food containing a Humulus japonicus extract as an active ingredient for preventing or improving metabolic disorders or for losing weight; to a pharmaceutical composition containing a Humulus japonicus extract as an active ingredient for preventing or treating metabolic disorders; to a functional health food or a pharmaceutical composition containing a Humulus japonicus extract as an active ingredient for preventing or improving fatty liver; and to a functional health food containing a Humulus japonicus extract as an active ingredient for inhibiting the accumulation of visceral fat.
Discussion of the Background
Humulus japonicus S. et Z., which is also called Japanese hop or Humulus scandnes Merr., has the efficacy of lowering the fever, facilitating urination, removing extravasated blood, and detoxificating the body. It has been reported to treat gonorrhea, dysuria, malaria, diarrhea, dysentery, tuberculosis, lung abscess, pneumonia, Hansen's disease, haemorrhoids, abscess, and scrofula. Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) describes that it smoothens triple energizers, helps the digestion of five grains, supports five viscera, kills various worms in the abdomen, and treats murrain.
Humulus japonicus is a perennial plant from the hemp family, and leaves thereof look like leaves of the hemp or leaves of the hop which is used as a raw material for manufacturing beer. The leaves grow sub-oppositely, have long and ovate petioles, with being palmate with 5-7 lobes. The leaf margins have a long oval shape and are bluntly toothed. Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. The plants are in bloom and out of bloom, repeatedly, from May to September, and then produce small, rounded fruits in autumn. Stems wither in the autumn, but the roots are alive even in the winter. These tenaciously strong stems are very sturdy and have numerous fine thorns adhering thereto. Thus, if scratched by the stems, a person's hands or face become very itchy and damaged. These sturdy stems are often used to make natural fibers. Humulus japonicus is assumed not to be native to Korea but imported from other foreign countries, and grows well in barren soil.
Recently, the improved standards of living due to economic development have improved environmental hygiene, while frequent consumption of instant food and meat-oriented dietary change have lead to the accumulation of excessive calories in one's body. However, this dietary change of modern people has been causing a fast rise in obesity together with the reduction in calorie consumption due to lack of exercise.
As such, the calories excessively accumulated in the body cause obesity and various diseases including metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension.
Obesity is the single most dangerous disease and causes the highest fatality in the 21st century. The reason is that obesity is dangerous per se, and also often causes constipation, indigestion, gastroenteric troubles and the like due to the abdominal pressure by fat tissues, while significantly increasing the risks of various other diseases. Representative diseases that are at their higher risk of developing due to obesity are type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery diseases, stroke, and various cancers.
Thus, there is a growing need for solving obesity-related problems through medicine intakes or dietary control. Anti-obesity drugs may be used for the treatment of obesity. However, contemporary anti-obesity drugs are problematic because of their side effects. It is a common knowledge that many products which have been currently used as a medicinal treatment of obesity show side effects and cause many social problems.
Diabetes is a kind of systemic metabolic disorder resulting from genetic and environmental factors, and refers to a state in which an abnormally high glucose concentration in blood is caused by absolute and relative insulin deficiency in the body. The complications of diabetes include hypoglycemia, ketoacidosis, hyperosmolar coma, macrovascular complications, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic nephropathy, and the like.
Hyperlipidemia includes both hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglycerides, and refers to a state in which cholesterol (240 mg/dl or more) and triglycerides (200 mg/dl or more) increase above their normal ranges due to disorders of lipoprotein and lipid metabolism. Hyperlipidemia is largely classified into primary hyperlipidemia resulting from genetic abnormalities and secondary hyperlipidemia resulting from other diseases, such as diabetes, or drugs. Hyperlipidemia does not develop any particular symptom, but has a problem in that increase in the levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood may cause arteriosclerosis, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and the like.
The main medications used to treat hyperlipidemia include statins, bile acid blockers, fibric acid derivatives, and the like, which need to be orally administered daily for a long period of time. These medications effectively lower the levels of cholesterol and blood lipid, but have their side effects. Startins may cause nausea, headache, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or constipation, and may cause myositis. The bile acid blockers may lower the absorption of vitamins A, D, and K into the intestine, thus requiring the supplementation of the above vitamins. The fibric acid derivatives are unsuitable for those having kidney disease, liver disease, or gallbladder disease. Therefore, the demands for the development of functional foods containing medicinal and natural materials substituting for those above agents are increasing (Kook Seungrae et. al, Korean Journal of Family Medicine, 18(3), pp. 317-327, 1997).
Meanwhile, it has been recently reported that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) including artherosclerosis, cerebrovascular diseases (Francazani A et al., Am J Med 2008, 121:72-78), microvascular diseases, nephropathy, and retinopathy (Targher G et al., Diabetologia 2008; 51(3):444-450), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) (Targher Get al., Atherosclerosis 2007, 191:235-240, Cerda C et al., J Hepatol 2007, 47:412-417), or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) (Tanne F at al., Hepatology 2005, 41:1290-1296).
Currently, there is no established treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease since it is associated with various factors, such as diabetes, obesity, coronary artery diseases, and sedentary habits. Obesity is the important target for treating the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease since alleviating obesity may induce the reduction in factors related to insulin resistance, which is a liver damage risk factor, the amount of fatty acid entering into the liver, and inflammatory or fibrous adipokine. Weight loss by dietary control and exercise may reduce the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and triglyceride in the liver. There have been few reports showing that weight loss may lead to any improvement in patients with hepatic fibrosis or necrotic inflammation (Harrison S A et al., Gut 2007, 56:1760-1769).